Disadvantages Of Fish Farming In Nigeria

Editor

Editor

We have seen the benefits of fish farming in Nigeria, now let us see the disadvantages. As they always say, anything that has advantages will also have disadvantages, else it is incomplete. This is surely one of the most sought for keywords in the business, and people keep searching for disadvantages of aquaculture farming, disadvantages of fish culture, advantages and disadvantages of fishing industry and the advantages and disadvantages of commercial fishing. We will also talk about the advantages and disadvantages of extensive fish farming, disadvantages of salmon farming and disadvantages of integrated fish farming. All these fall into one category - fish farming and we will discuss them as that. Fish farming is a popular business now, especially in Africa and the African countries like Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Togo, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the rest of them. This is because of the growing population which need to be sustained and catered for, with the government caring less and so the people have to create themselves jobs to survive. The fish farming has not become popular, and it's not going down soon, especially if we take care of its setbacks and disadvantages.

Disadvantages Of Fish Farming

As we have earlier said, to preserve our highly adored business, we need to take care of their disadvantages. Some of them include:

- The problem of start-up funds

Many dreams and ambitions go to the grave, sadly because they were not funded. I wouldn't blame the government for this, because we are the government ourselves. I think the people in power should take a greater percentage of the blames because they do not make provisions to help us achieve these dreams.This is also an issue in fish farming, as it is based on the more you invest, the more your proceeds. If you want to succeed fully from the fishpond business, you need to have steady food, water supply, fingerlings and much more. The structure itself also costs to build.

- Diseases

Diseases pose a really huge threat to the fish ponds because they are kept in close proximity. Out there in the waters, they have enough space but in the pond, it's not usually so and when one contacts a virus, it could possible transmit it to the rest. According to Time magazine, in the year 2000, there was an anemia outbreak in an aquaculture facility in Maine and it killed over 2.5 million fish.

- May pose some harm to the environment

Directly, fish don't harm the environment but the drugs and chemicals administered to them may. This is also another huge disadvantage with the farming of fish in Nigeria.Also, diseased fish may infect some of the equipment, thereby transferring their infections to the other agricultural products. Generally, they can poison the agricultural land if not well managed.

- Protein efficiency

To succeed in the industry, the fish need to consume a lot of protein and they ain't so cheap. Majority of the farmed fish, such as the salmon, cod, catfish and bass are carnivorous, which makes them huge demanders of protein. These protein are gotten from the pelleting of fish meal, and it takes around five pounds of fish meal to create a pound of salmon. This means that the feeding alone is also worth a lot of headache.

- Safety of the workers

You may say this is not necessary, but never forget that they may be exposed to risks of contacting some of the diseases associated with the fish. For example, the fish water can infect the workers with Weil's disease according to the UK health.Aside this, they can also stand a risk of drowning if working in a pond located in an isolated area.